1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an NC machine tool of an information transmission system which is configured to connect a control device of said NC machine tool to a transmission device which transmits information, such as an instructing message and a machining program or the like via telecommunication circuits, and the information transmission system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, in a production site where various products are machined, machining is performed according to a production instruction based on an overall production planning. The production instruction includes contents, such as a product number of a product which should be machined, its machining schedule (scheduled machining start date and time and scheduled machining completion date and time), and the quantity of products to be machined, is usually communicated to each operator via a production instruction document prepared for every machine tool and printed on a paper medium, and is ensured for thoroughness through meetings or the like.
Moreover, in said meetings, operations which the operators should perform are also instructed and the operators perform the operations according to the contents of instruction.
By way of example, when a delay in procurement of materials arises, or when an order of product of short time limit for delivery is received, it becomes necessary to change said production planning, consequently, if the production planning is changed, naturally, it is also necessary to change the production instruction based on a new production planning.
In this case, when the change arises before each operator is informed of the production instruction or when there is enough time even after having informed of the production instruction, so serious problem may not occur, in case of an emergency, however, it is necessary that those who direct the production instruction should go to each operator""s work area to inform each operator directly of the changes in the production instruction, or even to ask operators to stop the machine tools under operation and summon them so that they may be informed of these changes. A similar thing may also be said with regards to the above-mentioned operation instructions.
Thus, in a conventional manner of instruction content communication, when changing the instruction contents, there has been a problem regarding the communication of these changes in a quick and efficient way. For this reason, for example, when there is a change in the quantity of products to be machined, a number of products will be uselessly machined, or when there is a change in kind of products, unnecessary products are machined or set-up operations become useless, thereby a drop-off in productive efficiency is caused.
Moreover, an NC machine tool comprises a machining motion mechanism, such as a main spindle unit and a feed mechanism or the like which are a motion mechanism for machining a work piece, and a numerical control device which numerically controls operation of this machining motion mechanism, and such numerical control is performed based on a machining program generated depending on machined products.
This machining program is usually generated by a programmer well versed in this using a manual program generation device and an automatic programming device. Then, the generated machining program is usually carried in a condition that it is suitably stored in a recording medium, then read from the recording medium by the numerical control device of storing object, and then stored in the numerical control device.
On the other hand, in recent years, connecting said manual program generation device and said automatic programming device to the numerical control device of the NC machine tool via network, such as LAN, and transmitting the generated machining program to each numerical control device via the network and storing the same have also been performed.
By the way, when an approach of storing the machining program in the numerical control device after storing the same in the recording medium once is employed, and since the operators of the NC machine tools perform the operations for storing the machining program in the recording medium into the numerical control device, it is expected that this operator grasps in detail the actual condition and what kind of machining program is stored in the numerical control device of the NC machine tool which the operator is in charge.
On the other hand, when an approach of transmitting and storing the machining program in each numerical control device via the network is employed, since the operator does not perform storing operations, such situation where a new machining program is stored (addition of the machining program) or a suitably modified machining program is stored in the form of overwriting on the already stored machining program (change of the machining program) may happen when the operator does not become aware thereof.
However, when the addition or the change in the machining program are made in the place where the operator may not know it like this, this may cause confusion among operators on the information, whether or not, a trial machining has already been completed regarding the machining program stored in the numerical control device, in other words, the operator can not make clear whether the trial machining has already been completed or not, sometimes, such a situation where the operator misunderstands that the trial machining has already been completed with regard to the added or changed machining program and has resulted in continuous machining using the machining program occurs. In this case, if there is the error in the machining program, a serious accident may be happen such as, a tool and a work piece may come into collision.
The present invention is made in view of the above actual situation, the object thereof is to provide an NC machine tool and an information transmission system which will enable the transmission of a production instruction, an operation instruction or the like quickly and efficiently to an operator who operates a machine tool, and further, will certainly enable the operator to recognize a machining program to be stored when storing the machining program in a control device of the NC machine tool via telecommunication circuits.
The present invention in order to achieve the above-mentioned objective relates to an NC machine tool of an information transmission system configured to connect the NC machine tool, comprising: a machining motion mechanism; a control device which controls operation of this machining motion mechanism; and an operating panel including at least input means for inputting a signal to said control device, and screen display means to a transmission device which transmits information via telecommunication circuits, and the information transmission system.
Said control device is configured so that it can be connected to the transmission device which transmits the information via the telecommunication circuits, and is configured so as to receive the information from said transmission device, and display received information on said screen display means.
By way of example, the information to be transmitted are: instructing messages, such as production instruction messages, i.e., kind, quantity, machining schedule of products that should be machined, operation instruction messages, i.e., a set-up of machining, and a note in machining or the like; and a machining program.
Then, when transmit information is the instructing message, the instructing message is received by the control device and this is displayed on the screen display means. Moreover, when the transmit information is the machining program, a program number is extracted from the machining program, and the extracted program number is displayed on the screen display means.
Thus, when the operator confirms the instructing message and the program number displayed in this way, the operator then performs operations according to the confirmed instructing message, or recognizes the machining program automatically transmitted to and stored in the control device of the NC machine tool from the transmission device, and also recognizes addition or change of the machining program which has been stored in the control device.
In this way, if it is configured in a way so that the instructing message and the program number may be automatically displayed on the screen display means of the operating panel, at which the operator frequently looks, during the operation of the NC machine tool, instruction contents to be given can certainly be given to the operator quickly and efficiently, and in addition, the operator can be made to certainly recognize the addition and the change on the machining program stored in the control device.
Incidentally, the program number is usually set to the machining program for every machining program for identification, and this program number is indicated with a cord which consists of, for example, xe2x80x9cO****xe2x80x9d (alphabet O and four digits following thereto). Accordingly, the program number mentioned above can be extracted by searching the cord containing xe2x80x9cOxe2x80x9d in the machining program.
Moreover, the control device may be configured to display the information so that all or a part of an image already displayed on the screen display means are covered with said information when displaying the same. Although an image, such as an operating state (for example, main spindle rotating speed of a main spindle unit, current position of a feed mechanism or the like) of said machining motion mechanism, is usually displayed on the screen display means, by covering all or a part of the existing display image with an image concerning the received information, namely, by displaying to overlap the existing display image therewith as described above, it becomes easier for the operator to confirm the displayed information, and the instructing message can be accurately communicated to the operator, or the operator can be made to recognize more certainly the machining program stored in the control device.
Moreover, by displaying to overlap the existing display image, it becomes impossible for the operator to recognize the image having been displayed until then, and it becomes impossible for the operator to perform operations while looking at a screen display until the displayed image concerning the received information disappears. Therefore, for example, it becomes impossible for the operator to perform operations to read the machining program of the products in order to machine products before modification even though the production instruction has been modified by transmitting the instructing message, and that makes it possible to prevent, beforehand, wrong products from being machined. Moreover, it becomes impossible to perform an editing operation of the machining program during transmission of the machining program, for example, when a machining program already stored in the control device is replaced with a machining program which has been modified therefrom by the transmission process, that makes it possible to prevent such a situation where the operator calls the replaced machining program to perform continuous machining using the machining program which has not completed trial machining yet, while not fully grasping the addition and the change of the machining program.
It is preferable to delete the displayed information when confirmation that the operator has recognized this can be obtained, for this reason, it is recommended to configure it so that a confirmation signal for confirming that the operator has recognized the displayed information can be inputted from said input means, and to configure the control device so that said control device may receive the inputted confirmation signal to complete the display of the received information.
Furthermore, said control device may be configured so that all or a part of other signals inputted from said input means may be made to be invalid after displaying said received information on said screen display means until receiving the confirmation signal inputted from said input means.
As mentioned above, it is possible to prevent the operator from performing the operations while looking at the screen display if all or a part of the existing display image are displayed so as to be covered with an instructing message image, however, unless otherwise being covered, as described above, for example, it may happen that even though the production instruction has been modified by transmitting the instructing message, the operator calls the machining program of the product to machine the wrong products in order to machine the products before modification, and in addition, since the editing operation of the machining program is available during transmission, the operator calls the machining program changed by the transmission process to perform the continuous machining using the machining program which has not completed the trial machining without fully grasping the addition and the change of the machining program.
Therefore, if all or a part of the other signals inputted from said input means are made to become invalid between an input of the confirmation signal and deletion of the received information as described above, a readout of a new machining program can be made impossible, or the editing operation of the machining program can be made not to be performed, and that makes it possible to prevent the occurrence of the problem mentioned above.
Moreover, said control device may be configured so that the image for indicating an under-reception is displayed on said screen display means while receiving said information.
Although a period of time for the control device to receive the machining program is a relatively short period of time, it may still happen that the operator performs the editing operation on the existing machining program stored in the control device during the reception. For this reason, when the existing machining program is replaced with the machining program which has been modified therefrom by the transmission process, a situation where the machining program which must have been replaced is further replaced with the machining program which the operator has edited may arise, that makes it impossible for the side which transmits the machining program (management side) to accurately manage the machining program stored in the control device of each NC machine tool.
Therefore, as described above, if it is configured so as to display that is under reception on the screen while the control device is receiving the machining program, the operator can be made to recognize this and this can prevent the occurrence of the problem mentioned above.
Incidentally, the indication that it is under reception can be performed, for example, by blinking a part of an image which is displayed on the screen display means, or by displaying the message that it is under reception on the screen display means.
In addition, said telecommunication circuits according to the present invention includes various communication circuits for configuring network, such as LAN, VAN, and leased telephone circuits and optical communication circuits.